Episode 70: Purple Rain at 30
In June of 1984, a diminutive musician from the most unlikely of musical hotbeds started a revolution with the release of his magnum opus, Purple Rain. Part film, part soundtrack, part fiction, part autobiography, and all rock n’ roll, it didn’t just charge across racial divides to conquer the radio, box office AND the album charts, it shattered any notion that we had as a culture that there were limits to what we can create. Pulling from every conceivable style of music and sounding like none, Purple Rain wasn’t just the high water mark of Prince’s career; it was the purest expression of everything he’s done before, or since.
Thirty years after this landmark achievement, Kevin, Adam, Derek, and Marcus “gather(ed) here today” not just to “get through this thing called life,” but to try to figure out just what makes Purple Rain tick, discuss its impact on music today, share stories of growing up with such a grown up record, and more.
